| | |  Travel & Outdoors | March 2009 
Regarding Mexico: Biased News, Half-Truths and Fear Mongering Fuel Paranoia of All Things South of the Border - Part 2
 Jan Baumgartner - opednews.com
| | Jan Baumgartner | |
Living or Vacationing in Mexico: The Ripple Effect
Mexico is a country with a staggering poverty rate that is only worsening due to the impact of a flailing U.S. economy coupled with irresponsible media fear mongering. In a country where much of the economy is sustained by the tourist trade, Mexicans are hurting as are expat business owners.
According to Wesley Gleason of Agave Real Estate, which was recently voted as the top real estate agency in the tourist town of San Miguel de Allende, business has been floundering. Naturally, this is a reflection of the housing and stock market decline in the U.S., coupled with the perception that Mexico is no longer "safe," and fewer and fewer U.S. citizens are purchasing homes in the area.
The real estate market here has been hard hit, some transactions in progress have bottomed out due to potential home buyers worrying about the continued decline of the economy, safety issues, or banks pulling out of loan negotiations or bypassing on loans all together. Katharine Hibberts of Premier House Rentals of San Miguel has seen the same decline. People, once only concerned about the economy are now twice as worried due to the U.S. media blitz about the "rife drug violence."
Unfortunately, they are not paying attention to where this violence is indeed widespread, and where it is not and regardless if youre hundreds or thousands of miles away from the thick of it, Mexico is now perceived as a lawless and dangerous land.
I've talked with many business owners in San Miguel, proprietors of small restaurants to tiny tiendas and shops selling goods from local producers to those from Oaxaca and other areas. They are all seeing the downturn, the lack of tourists, and the lack of revenue filtering in. Many of these business owners rely heavily on tourist dollars to make ends meet, provide food and shelter for their families.
In a city that prides itself on tourism and of which is kept afloat by these dollars, San Miguel is feeling the backlash. That said other tourist destinations throughout Mexico have been even harder hit some coastal cities and towns once overrun by U.S. and Canadian snowbirds or college students on spring break were and are nearly empty during the height of the tourist season.
1 | 2 | 3 |  |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us